A day after the Congress named Supreme Court lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, the BJP fielded turncoat Harsh Mahajan, once a trusted lieutenant of six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, on Thursday, the last day of filing nominations for the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections.

Mahajan, 64, a three-time Chamba MLA, was the working president of the Congress before he switched to the BJP in the run-up to the 2022 assembly elections.

After filing his nomination papers, Mahajan, who is now a member of the BJP’s core group, said he was confident of victory. “For me, no work is big or small. I am here to win. I am in touch with everybody. Friends in the Congress are feeling suffocated under Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s rule. They should vote according to their conscience.”

In the 68-member house, the Congress has 40 MLAs, the BJP 25 MLAs and there are three independents.

Opposition parties rarely field candidates for the Rajya Sabha election but Mahajan’s entry in the fray has made the contest interesting.

The seat falls vacant after the tenure of BJP national president Jagat Parkash Nadda expires on April 2. The BJP has nominated Nadda to the Upper House from Gujarat this time.

On Mahajan’s nomination, former chief minister and BJP leader Jai Ram Thakur said that nominating a candidate for any election is the prerogative of the parties. “The BJP does not contest any election without doing its homework,” he added.

Meanwhile, Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi filed his nomination for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state on Thursday in the presence of Congress Himachal affairs in-charge Rajiv Shukla and former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.

The scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on February 16 and the last date for withdrawal is February 20.